When Does The UK Get The Sony Xperia XZ Premium? Depends How You Define 'Spring'

If you've got your eye on Sony's rather beautiful new Xperia XZ Premium, the good news is it's definitely coming to the UK. Vodafone, EE and Carphone Warehouse have already confirmed they'll stock the flagship, with others expected to follow.

However, the handset's promised release date of 'late Spring 2017' is less exciting than it might initially sound. While most Brits seem to think of Spring as January to whenever-it-starts-getting-warm-again, technically it has quite a different definition. Two different definitions, in fact.

If Sony is going by meteorological Spring, then the season hasn't even started yet. It runs from the 1st of March until the end of May, which means we could get the XZ Premium even later than the Galaxy S8. And that would not be a good thing for Sony.

If we're going by astronomical Spring, on the other hand, it's even worse news. That season runs from the 20th of March to the 20th of June. It would be a pretty weird way to define a product release date, but it does give Sony a handy "well, actually" get-out if the phone ends up delayed.

We don't yet have UK pricing either, but safe to say the top-end Sony flagship will not be cheap. The Z5 Premium was £579 at launch, and with its "two world firsts" of a 4K HDR screen and 960fps super-slow-mo video, the XZ Premium may well top that.